William Burroughs Graphic Novel on the Way!

For those who’d begun to think William Burroughs wasn’t that cool after all comes this: Fantagraphics will be publishing Mr. Burroughs sole venture into comics. A project called “Ah Pook is Here” which the author did with artist Malcolm McNeill.

More after the jump …

The project was originally published in “Cyclops” a British magazine. When that magazine folded, Burroughs and McNeill attempting to find a book publisher. There was no interest. Nevertheless, the pair continued working on the project for some years. Finally abandoning it in the late seventies.

The graphic novel sees Burroughs tell the story of billionaire newspaper tycoon John Stanley Hart, the “Ugly American” or “Instrument of Control” who is on a quest to discover the secret of immortality. He uses a formula he finds in ancient Mayan books to create a “Media Control Machine” using images of Fear and Death, but ends up getting on the wrong side of Ah Pook, the Mayan Death God.

And you thought Grant Morrison’s stuff was weird. The Fantagraphics edition of the work will hit retailers next summer.